Morrisons

Morrisons has a strong focus on phasing out Highly Hazardous Pesticides. It has lists of pesticides which it bans, restricts or monitors within its global supply chains. The company uses extremely robust criteria for deciding which pesticides to add to its lists, which are more comprehensive than those used by most other supermarkets. It is making good progress in ending the use of particularly harmful pesticides and, since 2022, has banned a range of additional chemicals and placed additional restrictions on many more.

Morrisons requires agricultural workers using certain pesticides that are particularly toxic to humans to take measures to detect poisoning symptoms and protect their health, including regular blood tests. Growers seeking permission from Morrisons to use pesticides that pose a particularly high risk to worker health (such as the lethal herbicide paraquat) must submit a safety action plan. The company also has technical managers which visit suppliers and growers regularly to check on a range of conditions, including worker safety.

Morrisons provides UK, EU and international growers with bespoke advice on reducing pesticide use and adopting non-chemical alternatives. It also runs forums for growers on general topics such as using biopesticides and reducing environmental impacts of pesticides. The company is supporting trials of non-chemical alternatives among its international growers. To ensure that the learnings from these trials are shared with suppliers, Morrisons has technical managers based in a range of countries (including Spain, South Africa and Peru) who visit farms sharing best practice.

Morrisons tests a range of food types for pesticide residues including fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices, nuts and wheat products such as bread and pasta. When this testing detects a residue that reaches half of the legal safety limit an investigation is triggered which includes working closely with the supplier to understand and tackle the problem and sharing any learnings across the supply chain. An investigation is also triggered if the company detects residues of more than five different pesticides on one food item, or more than eight in the case of citrus, berries and grapes. This is important because chemicals can become more harmful when combined.

Morrisons got full marks for transparency because it publishes its full pesticide policy, the results from its residue testing programme and the lists of which pesticides it has prioritised for phase out.

Morrisons’ lists which ban, restrict or monitor the use of particular pesticides within its global supply chains, apply to fruit and vegetables, prepared ready meals and frozen produce. While this is more extensive than some other supermarkets, Morrisons should expand its approach further to also include other types of food, such as wheat products like bread and pasta. Ultimately, supermarkets should be aiming for their pesticide policy and lists to apply to all own-brand products so that when a pesticide is banned it is not allowed to be used on any of its products.

Like all UK supermarkets, Morrisons could be doing more to monitor pesticide poisonings in its supply chains. While it does ask suppliers to report any incidents of poisoning, it does not involve agricultural workers directly in this process. Many agricultural workers will not want to report poisoning incidents to their employers for fear of losing their jobs. It is therefore vital that health and safety processes are designed in a way which enables those applying chemicals to report poisoning symptoms without fear of retribution.

While Morrisons does offer support to suppliers to help them reduce pesticide use and adopt non-chemical alternatives, it could be doing more. In particular, it should increase the amount of training and guidance it offers on non-chemical alternatives. The topics covered by its peer-to-peer forums that bring supplies together should be far more targeted, ideally focussed on specific crops, regions, non-chemical alternatives or how to phase out specific pesticides.

Morrisons continues to have many pesticides which are classified as ‘highly toxic to bees’ sitting on its restricted and monitored list, including neonicotinoids (the insecticides notorious for driving declines in bee populations worldwide). Given the global biodiversity crisis, which is impacting pollinators particularly harshly, all supermarkets should be moving towards phasing these chemicals out from use across their global supply chains. Morrisons should also be funding research specifically focused on the impacts of pesticides on pollinators and require its suppliers to monitor pollinator activity on their farms.
Pesticides are still sprayed around Morrisons stores and car parks with the aim of controlling weeds. However, the company is trialling a wide range of non-chemical alternatives (including hot foam and hand weeding) and told PAN UK that it plans to review its position once the trials have been completed in 2024. To help biodiversity flourish, the company should phase out the use of pesticides around all its stores as soon as possible.

Morrisons is one of just five of the top ten UK supermarkets still selling pesticides in its gardening range. Despite ending its sale of glyphosate-based weedkillers and stocking a range of natural alternatives, the company is very much lagging behind in this area and should stop selling all products containing Highly Hazardous Pesticides as soon as possible.

How do the supermarkets compare?

Click on the logos below for more detail on how each supermarket is doing on pesticides.